By The Sea
by Jay-the-Fangirl
Summary: Keith was just a normal teen. Lance was a merman. As fate would have it, the two happened to meet while Keith visited the beach. After saving Lance, the two quickly became friends, and possibly something more... -Voltron Mermaid/Merman AU; Ship(s): Klance-


The bright full moon shone above a sandy shore, waves illuminated by the moon crashing against the sandy beach. The beach itself was practically empty, most tourists and beach-goers choosing to stay inside after sunset. The only visitors were Hunk, Pidge, and Keith, the three friends deciding to go for a late night swim. Well, Hunk and Pidge wanted to go for a swim, pretty much forcing Keith to come along.

"It'll be fun!" "You'll miss out!" "C'mon, no one is going to be there!" They had told Keith.

Keith had no interest in swimming, only coming along because he knew they'd never shut up unless he did. He didn't even get a bathing suit on.

Pidge and Hunk quickly headed for the crashing waves, Keith trying to find use with his time. The only thing interesting to do seemed to be looking around the beach and collecting seashells. Keith groaned at the thought, knowing how boring it sounded, though slowly began to explore. The beach was long and narrow, covered with sand, shells, and rocks, having few other features.

"How boring…" Keith thought to himself as he walked.

While he explored, he occasionally noticed a seashell, bending over to pick it up. Most were just bits and pieces, nothing that interesting. Those Keith decided to have a little fun with. He would pick them up and chuck them back into the ocean, the seashells making a small splashing noise before being gone forever. After Keith did that, he would just simply continue to walk, as if nothing had happened.

Eventually, Keith had come across a large set of boulders and rocks, realizing how they blocked his path. He groaned, putting his hands in his pocket. He assumed that was all the beach had to offer. That was until he heard a thrashing noise from behind the rocks.

Alarmed, Keith looked for anything that could be used as a weapon, knowing that it wasn't wise to just move towards whatever it was without something to protect himself. He began to look among the rocks, reaching into the crevices of boulders to see if there were any sharp rocks. Probably not the smartest choice, though he didn't really think it through. His fingers eventually brushed against a rather sharp, small rock. Quickly, he pulled his hand back, but then reach down again to grab the rock. His fingers carefully gripped the smoother parts and he picked it up, looking at it rather closely. The rock was shaped like an arrowhead, a point at the tip, though it was a lot more rugged and unpolished.

"This'll do…" Keith muttered, beginning to climb over the rock to look for the source of the noise.

Keith attempted, while climbing, to look for a clear path to the top. He carefully grasped each rock, steadily making his way up. As he did so, the thrashing got louder and louder, as if something was struggling, and Keith began to grow more and more desperate to figure out the source of the noise. Wet sand stuck to his clothes, got all over his hands, and under his fingernails. It grew more and more uncomfortable, and Keith only wanted to stop, but kept going.

Eventually, he had made it to the top. It wasn't to high, but with the constant slips, it had felt like it had taken forever. Keith pulled himself over the boulder and looked down, holding the pointed rock in his hand. Right away, he had located where the thrashing was coming from. A big, shiny, blue fish tail was slapping against the rocks as it tried to escape. Keith kept his rock, just in case he needed it, and began to try to get down from the rocks.

Keith, quickly, got down, mostly from sliding off the rocks. He made his way over to the fish tail, sitting down next to it. The end of the tail fanned out, being quite large. It was certainly something that would attract anyone's attention. Keith began to try to soothe the poor creature as he tried to figure out how to get it out of the net. Right once Keith touched his hand to the creature's scaly fish tail, the creature's head popped right up.

"Hey! Go easy on the scales!" The creature told Keith. Without a doubt, it, well, he was a merman, having the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish. His skin was a light brown, and the merman had dark brown hair. Blue gills were on the side of his neck, and his ears fanned out, resembling a fish's fins. Along his spine was a translucent blue fin to top off the merman look.

Keith quickly pulled his hand back, jumping at the sudden voice. "M-Mermaid!" He began to stammer, not knowing how he was supposed to reply to the sudden discovery.

"Actually, I'd like to be known as a merman." The merman replied with annoyance. "The name's Lance." He then added.

Keith was still trying to figure out how to react. He had just discovered a merman! He shook his head, knowing he had to put the survival of the creature first. He could sort out everything else later.

"Keith." He replied. "Now if you could just calm down, I could get you out."

Lance groaned. "Fine." He mumbled, relaxing his tail as Keith tried to untangle the net. Lance drummed his fingers against the sand, creating tiny holes.

Keith worked diligently and swiftly, pulling at the ropes. Lance decided to continue talking. "Finally one of you humans arrived to untangle me from your own stupid nets! Maybe I wouldn't be trapped here if you didn't use these things! I was just swimming then -boom-, caught in a net! If you-" Keith quickly cut Lance off. "Enough already! Be quiet so I can actually get you out!"

Lance scowled, folding his arms. He muttered about how Keith wasn't fun at all and began to doodle in the sand with his finger. Keith continued to pull at the ropes, feeling his fingers slowly get tangled in them. He groaned.

"You're pretty stuck." Keith told Lance with a scowl. Lance folded his arms at Keith's words.

"Not my fault I'm stuck." Lance replied.

"Look, maybe I can go back and grab some scissors or a knife or something to free you. It'll be just a bit-" Keith began before being cut off by Lance.

"Just a bit?! I don't have a bit! I want out now!" Lance demanded.

Keith scowled at Lance's demands, pulling yet again at the net to try to free him. He mumbled to himself about how rude Lance was, but continued to mess with the net to free the merman. Eventually, Keith was able to free him.

"Finally!" Lance said, shoving the net away and sitting up in the least graceful way possible.

"You're welcome." Keith grumbled, glaring at Lance.

Lance looked annoyed with Keith's tone, but decided to ignore it. He used his arms to push him towards the water. After a few moments, Lance paused, realizing how rude he was acting. He turned back to Keith.

"Look, I'm sorry for being so rude. Just hated the net, y'know?" Lance told Keith, hoping the words would make Keith at least forgive him slightly.

"It's fine. It's alright. Just go." Keith replied, beginning to get up.

"You're pretty cool for a human." Lance said. "And I don't think it'd be too terrible to have a human friend. Who else would be able to get me out of a net again?" He chuckled.

"I'd assume you'd need me a lot. You seem to be the guy to get tangled up a lot." Keith replied with a smirk.

"I'm typically out at night because, well, I assume it's kinda obvious why. It'd be nice to meet up again."

Keith nodded. "I guess I'll see you around, then?"

"Of course." Lance said as he made his way towards the water. Right as the waves crashed against his tail, he waved good-bye to Keith. Quickly, he was sucked back into the water without another word.

After the encounter, Keith began to make his way back to his friends. He climbed up the rocks and, yet again, got covered with wet sand. He slowly walked across the beach, exhaustion beginning to overwhelm him.

By the time he got back, Pidge and Hunk were done with their swimming. They took one look at Keith, noticing how dirty he looked.

Pidge gestured to a shower. "I think it'd be best if you used that." She told him as she began to make her way over to the shower.

Keith nodded in reply. "I got more sand on me than I expected." He said as he went over with Pidge. Hunk followed behind the two.

All of them quickly washed the sand off them. After they did so, they began to make the journey home. Keith glanced at the ocean one last time, trying to spot Lance, before turning back to his friends and walking home.

 **Hey guys! So this is my first fanfiction I've wrote in a while...oh boy. It's bad, I know, though I kinda want to get back into writing. I apologize if the characters seem a little OOC or anything, I tried. It's also my first Voltron fanfiction so...sorry. XD**

 **I also apologize for no cover photo. I'm planning on drawing one, but it's gonna be a bit...**

 **Critiques would be nice! I only ask for you to be at least somewhat polite, though I'll allow positive critiques and negative critiques.**

 **Thanks for reading my first chapter, and I pray I get enough motivation to write the next. Hope you enjoyed!**


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